


crown of the king

by shadowfell



Category: The Librarians (TV 2014)
Genre: Arthurian mythology - Freeform, Backstory, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-09
Updated: 2020-11-09
Packaged: 2021-03-09 07:22:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27467131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadowfell/pseuds/shadowfell
Summary: the librarians attempt to stop the latest apocalypse - and end up meeting someone from jenkins past.
Relationships: Jenkins | Galahad & Original Character(s)
Kudos: 11





	crown of the king

The cavernous tunnels were filled with ancient traps, but the Librarians walked under the streets of London with determination. The maze like quest the clipping-book had involved a break in at a bank with robed cultists, and tracking them down had led to examining the original owner and the successive trail of thieves who had stolen this crown – Arthur’s crown.

The Crown of King Arthur was one of the most powerful items which they had yet to recover, and from the looks of it the Brotherhood hadn’t been able to hold on to it either. The previous thief hadn’t understood it’s power, but this guy, with the cultists, and the creepy hallways, and the traps?

Yeah. He definitely knew what was up.

“I can’t believe we’re crawling through yet another sewer tunnel,” Ezekiel grumbles, as they carefully walk around the trigger plates of what has to be the tenth trap they’ve passed. “I haven’t slept in two days. Do I even need to be here? I can’t imagine there’ll be anything to hack down here.”

“We don’t know what we’ll find down here. All we know is that we're dealing with a potential apocalypse,” Eve says, and while the bags under her eyes are heavy she still manages to dodge the swinging blade. “Two apocalypses in one week. That has to be a record.”

They make it past the blade with carefully timed jumps, and Jake nods in agreement. “The Crown grants its wearer the ability to control magical objects, but it has a very limited range. There’s supposed to be some form of ceremony on a certain day where a person can be Crowned, which would give them the power to ‘rule over all Kingdoms’ but the original date has been lost.” 

“Yeah, well, these guys seem to know,” Ezekiel says, as they walk further down the tunnel. “Or at least, they think they do. They could have stolen it any time, and they chose last week.”

“Well, it could be some external factor involving when they could get the manpower,” Cassandra adds, “but it seems more likely they somehow figured it out.” She thought absently of the important days around them, but none jumped out as extremely special. She did, however, notice an imperfection in the bricks of the wall. “Wait. I think there’s a secret door here.”

“It looks like a pit trap and then a dead end up ahead,” Eve says, peering down the tunnel. “This is it. Can you see how to open it?” Cassandra nods. “Good. You and Ezekiel stay back. Most of them will probably be inside. Count to three, open it, and Jake and I will rush inside. Ready?”

“Ready,” Cassandra replies, hand hovering over the stone, as Eve and Jake both get in to a ready stance, firmly gripping the swords they had pinched from the statue guardians. “Three, two, one-“ The bricks grind and the door opens, as Jake and Eve rush forward in to the room. What looks to be fifteen or so robed cultists surround a stone throne, upon which a man in a suit. The crown is on a pillow next to the throne, and they all look up in surprise.

“Oh,” says the man on the throne, looking at them curiously, “Librarians.”

“Give us the crown,” Eve shouts, staring him down. “We don’t have to fight, but we won’t let you go through with your evil plan.”

“I wouldn’t call it evil, it’s more morally ambiguous,” he corrects, smiling smugly. “Not that the semantics really matter. Minions, attack!”

The cultists run forward, swords in hand, and Jake and Eve push them off with their own swords. As far as evil-cultist-minions go these guys were pretty bad at it. Ezekiel snuck off easily, slipping to the back and grabbing the crown with ease, with no trouble from the man on the throne.

The cultists run forward, swords in hand, and Jake and Eve push them off with their own swords. As far as evil-cultist-minions go these guys were pretty bad at it. Ezekiel snuck off easily, slipping to the back and grabbing the crown with ease, with no trouble from the man on the throne.

“That was surprisingly easy,” he says with a grin, placing it on his head and making all of the weapons drop to the floor. The cultists took one look at him and then ran, leaving only the four Librarians and the man sitting on the throne.

“Take it off,” the man growls, standing up. His face was tight and eyes wide, out of fear and panic. “Take it off now.”

“What, and give you back this awesome magical artifact? No way,” Ezekiel replies, backing away from the man and the throne. “I don’t know, it isn’t really my style, but I think it’s rather fetching.”

“Why are Librarians always so – in one minute, the wearer will be crowned as High King. There is no way to reverse the coronation.”

“Jones, take it off,” Jake hisses, and Ezekiel sighs before taking the crown off of his head but holding the crown close at hand. The man sits back down on the throne, sprawling across the stone seat. 

“Aren’t you going to try to, I don’t know, get it back?” Eve asks, looking at him cautiously. “Or,I don’t know, try and kill us? Or escape?”

“Not really.” The man replies, still lounging. “I am an incredibly patient man, and there is always next year.” He grins at that, not a sharp or villainous smile but one of someone reminiscing on the past. It fades quickly, and he straightens himself in the seat to look at the four of them. “So. Librarians. I had heard there were more than one of you, now. Let me guess,” he paused, looking over them, and gestured towards Eve. “You’re the guardian? It’s fascinating, I have yet to meet a male guardian, but Librarians are quite randomly distributed.”

Eve looked at him warily, and the four gathered close. “What are we going to do with him?” Jake asks in a hushed voice. “We can’t just let him go. He tried to take over the world.”

“I dunno mate, he seems pretty chill,” Ezekiel replies. “I mean, other than the freak out. I think we could let him walk.”

“Well, what else are we going to do? We can’t kill him, and it’s not like we can put him in jail,” Cassandra adds.

“He has a cult,” Eve notes. “He tried to take over the world, and he just told us he would try again. He doesn’t walk.” She paused. “On the other hand, we can’t just take him in to the library.”

“Sure you can!” the man interrupts. “You’ve got that whole dungeon in the basement. Not that I particularly want to be in the dungeon – personally, I think I deserve to be up on display with all the other priceless magical artifacts – but it is a solution to your little problem.”

“We have a dungeon?” Cassandra asks. The Library is so large, and most of it is unexplored, but she can’t remember any mention of a dungeon.

“Sure you do. Quite a few, in fact. I’ve been in them before. Quite lovely, as far as dungeons go. Nice and dry.” He stands up, walking around to the back of the room, eyes scanning over the walls. Eve and Jake both grip their swords tighter. “Oh, do calm down, if I wanted to attack you I would have used the sword hanging from my belt. I was looking for some manacles – I’m almost certain we used keep some here. I suppose even if I did find a pair you wouldn’t trust them. It’s rather pointless in the long run.”

“You know, it’s really hard to trust you when you keep on helping us,” Jake mumbles.

“I’m going to call Jenkins for a door down here,” Eve says. “This is just too weird. I like it better when they just run off or attack us, because this situation is just-“ The man grins in their direction, perfectly innocent looking. “Weird. I still don’t know what exactly is going on.”

“Wait, really?” the man asks, staring at her, confused. “I am not exactly the most subtle person.” He pauses, thinking something over. “Well, for politeness sake, my name is Medraut.” He bows, far deeper than necessary for a bow, and when he stands up he brushes off the dust accumulated on his shirt as if he has only just noticed it.

“Can we really just let him in to the library?” Cassandra asks. “I mean, he’s a bad guy. I think. And this seems like something he’s planned.” Before they could continue to talk about it, the door burst to life where they entered, glowing. The man – Medraut, if he was to be believed – looked up with a smile.

“Beautiful piece of magic, isn’t it?” he asks, looking at it but not walking forward. “Would it be better if I told you I do not wish to steal anything or hurt anyone, or if I just admit I have ulterior motives? Well, really one ulterior motive, incredibly small on the cosmic scale but decently worrying on a psychological layer, I suppose.”

“I want to keep an eye on him,” Eve says, looking at him cautiously. “Take his sword, but given that we have the crown I don’t know what harm he could do.”

“Tons!” Medraut says, cheerfully, handing over his sword. “Most of it would be purely mental, however, and I’m not in the mood for anything deeply scarring.” He pulled out a dagger as well, one that none of them had even noticed, and handed it over. Even with four sets of very careful eyes on him, he seemed eerily calm.

They walked through the door in to the annex. Jenkins looked up as Ezekiel first stepped through, holding the crown, and smiled. “I’m glad to see that you’re a;; fine,” he says, as Cassandra steps through. “Mister Carson has gone –“ His voice stopped, face flipping through confusion and recognition before finally settling on strong annoyance. Medraut, smiling, waved. “Mister Jones, if you could run and grab a pair of the magic blocking handcuffs from the utilities wing?” he asked.

"I always forget how into bondage you are, Galeas,"  Medraut replied with a grin. “How’s it going, old pal, dear friend, eternal soulmate and love of my life-“

“Please stop talking.” Jenkins seemed to be developing a massive headache, given the look on his face. “I should have known you were behind this. I really need to keep better track of the date,”

“Speaking of dates,” the man says with a grin, “your birthday’s coming up fairly soon, and this year I have the best present imaginable.”

“If by fairly soon you mean still months away,” Jenkin deadpans. He looks over to catch a glimmer of excitement on Cassandra’s face. “No, I will not be sharing the date.”

“It’s on a holy day,” Medraut adds, winking towards Cassandra, who very quickly loses that glimmer. “I know that we never really did the whole birthday thing, but I was thinking – Dulac did something horrible to the Library recently, right? I heard he and the Brotherhood nearly destroyed this place or what have you, and that was what let magic loose upon the world? Regardless, the point is that he’s made himself a very clear and vicious enemy of the Library, so I was thinking – what if I just bring him to you as a special birthday gift.”

“That’s –“ Eve starts, looking at Jenkins. “That isn’t a bad deal. The Serpent Brotherhood isn’t particularly active right now, but we could strike a critical blow by removing Dulac.” Jenkins doesn’t look nearly as enthused, however.

“I know, right? Perfect gift. Everyone’s happy. I mean, except Dulac, but do you really care about his happiness?” Medraut gazed intensely at Jenkins, watching every change in his expression. “Of course, contingent on my gift, you’d have to be the one to kill him.”

“I’m not killing him.” Jenkins replied quickly.

“Hey, now, don’t be hasty,” Medraut continued. “None of your precious Librarians would be too down on you if you did – I mean, you heard her, they hate the guy. Sure, I don’t think they’d ask you to do it, but would they really mind?”

“Mister Jones! Good, you’re back,” Jenkins says, taking the cuffs in hand and snapping them in place around Medraut’s wrists. “As thrilling as this conversation has been, I’m afraid there is pressing Library business to attend to, which means you’re going in a cell.”

"Yes, because that always lasts," Medraut replies. “Seriously, though, are you considering it? Or is it more a you’re going to consider it after all the good Librarians go to sleep? Although, there’s a lot more enjoyable things we could be doing then than that long overdue execution.”

“We will not be doing, or considering, anything. I will not, and will never, work with you.”

“Oh, back at this again, are we? Murder is wrong, Medraut. You can’t rule the world, Medraut. You murdered my liege, Medraut. No I don’t want to make out with you, Medraut. It’s getting boring, honestly.”

They open the cell and Medraut enters, the cuffs still around his wrists. Jenkins locks the door and turns to leave, but Cassandra stops him with a “Wait.”

“Why are you doing this?” she asks, staring at the strange man through the bars, inquisitive. “Cooperating. Working with us. Offering to take down one of our biggest enemies. You just tried to take over the world, having the library busy would be beneficial to you, but instead, you’re helping us.”

“I have many reasons, each of them of varying levels of deeply planned manipulative intrigue and banal pettiness.” He leans against the bars, and stares directly at her. “I do my best to keep the Library in good graces, though, and I consider it a rule in life to never cross a witch.”

“She is not a witch, and the Library has never been on good graces with you,” Jenkins grumbles. 

“Galeas, you know that isn’t true. On both parts. However you may have poisoned her against me-” and Jenkins rolls his eyes at that statement - “I hold no ill intentions towards the Library in my heart. I served her long before you showed up at her step.”

“You didn’t answer my question,” Cassandra interrupted, crossing her arms, in a way that didn’t seem threatening or angry, just, serious. “Why help us with Dulaque?”

“I did answer your question, my dear, but I’ll answer this one all the same. I have no love in my heart for the Serpent Brotherhood. They are an ancient relic clinging to a bygone era, an era I have no wish to return to. Although with the general aesthetic of my cult it may not seem like it, I do relish in modern technology. Camelot is dead, and I’d prefer it stay that way, in all honesty.”

“It is dead because you killed it,” Jenkins interjects. “You were backing them, only a few years ago. Don’t tell me you changed your mind.”

“A few years ago, magic was dying. I can’t have that. My very life depends on magic. To see a world where all that remains is the library - only a collection, no more adventure, no more life - that would be such a tragic thing. I want a world ripe in both magic and technology. So I used them to jumpstart the return, and now, I need them gone, because they’ve served their purpose.” He shrugs. “Besides, it isn’t everyday you get to watch someone like your - what do you call him? - Jenkins ponder over the idea of murdering his own father for the Library’s sake.”

There’s a gasp from Cassandra, and a “What?” from Ezekiel. Dulaque isn’t their most dangerous enemy, but he was their first. The fact they hadn’t even guessed at the connection. How could they.

“Don’t you have some pressing Library business to get to? I believe that’s what you said.” Medraut reminds them. “I’ll be here if you want me to fetch Dulaque for you. Oh, and Galeas, I so hope you block me out well enough that you forget to feed me again. It makes breaking out of these cells so much easier, and I’d love to have some time in the Library’s collections, it’s been ages.”

Jenkins doesn’t respond to that, just walks off, down the long corridors of the Library, and the four of them follow as well, leaving Medraut alone in the cell. watching them disappear. 

“What was he talking about, forgetting to feed him?” Eve asks, looking at Jenkins concernedly. 

“Medraut is - he is immortal, but of a different version than myself. Whereas my immortality prevents me from being killed, his prevents the action that would kill him from taking place. If you shot him, you would miss, or he’d dodge, or the gun would jam. Probability is in his favor.”

“So, if you didn’t provide him with food,” Jake reasons, “the door would somehow unlock and he’d be able to find something to eat.”

“Exactly. It’s a particularly annoying version of immortality, and one I’ve had the very long unfortune of dealing with.”

“Is it true, then?” Ezekiel asks. “About Dulaque being your dad?”

“Unfortunately.” Jenkins sighs. “This isn’t something that you need concern yourself with. However much I dislike Dulaque, I will not be killing him, not like this, where Medraut stands to gain something and there isn’t even a fair fight. It’s best you forget all about this entire affair.”

“And about what he said about me?” Cassandra asks. “He called me a witch.”

“Medraut is as old as I am. Older, by around ten years. Back then, any young woman with a strong grasp on the sciences could be considered a witch. That doesn’t mean they are one. Again, it’s probably for the best that you all just ignore him. He’s a master manipulator, and it’s better to just avoid interacting with him until his next attempted breakout.”

It's probably the lack of sleep - and the straight week of apocalypse-stopping - that convinces them to take it as is, and to head home without too much worry about the madman in the secret basement dungeons.

Jenkins is the only one there in the hour it takes Medraut to escape.

"I like them," he says, setting the handcuffs down on the desk, as Jenkins looks up in shock. "They're fun. A bit naive, perhaps, but with a whole group of them, they'll probably have the time to grow out of it."

"That was faster than usual," Jenkins grumbles. "What, did you purposefully starve yourself, knowing you'd end up in a cell, just so you could escape?"

"Maybe the Library just likes me," he shrugs. "So, honestly, none of your little Librarians around - you don't want Dulaque dead? Because otherwise, as much as I do adore your company, I think it's better if I leave."

"You do know it won't weaken me, if that's your plan. And in o manner would it be me falling to your level."

"Is it really beyond you to believe that I just wanted to do something nice for you?" Medraut asks. "Honestly, Galeas, not everything is some grand, overarching plot-"

"Are you telling me you don't have any ulterior motives, coming here?"

"Well, of course I do. You've got two new humans bound to the library, and it's only right we get to meet. After all, eventually we're going to get to something the power of friendship can't defeat, and eventually, you'll have to come begging me to save you."

"I will never beg you for anything," Jenkins says. "Not now, not ever, and especially not foor you to take ultimate power. You're an egomaniacal-"

"Yes, yes, we've been over it before," Medraut says with a sigh. "Honestly, Galeas, do you have anything constructive to add to the discussion, or should I just leave?"

"As much as I'd prefer you still down in the cells, I'd rather you were out there instead of traipsing through the Library," Jenkins says. "I'll send you back to London."

"I wasn't too picky about where, but I'll certainly take London," Medraut says.

Jenkins flips the globe, and the magic of the door sparks to life. 

"We're getting close to the end, you know," Medraut says, standing on the edge. "Four librarians at once? We're in a time of prophecy. And, for all we're friends, and I allow this back-and-forth, I am the rightful king of Camelot - and you're sworn to obey me. Don't forget that."

He steps through the door without waiting for a reply, and the door shuts behind him. Jenkins, for his part, turns back to the card catalog, a frown firmly stretched across his face.


End file.
